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For recruitment and retention ultimately to lead to revenue, everyone needs to know what to do and how well they're doing. This seems simple, but good communication often is lacking in medical practices and hospitals. Practice managers use recruiters to scout and hire qualified employees and keep them satisfied long-term.
KEY WORDS: Recruitment; retention; revenue; incentive; compensation; profitability.
As the economy recovers, we know thousands of medical professionals will relocate. As a result, healthcare organizations are involved in a recruitment war. Thousands of hospitals and group practices are involved in some kind of staffrecruitment effort. Once an organization initiates discussions with a physician candidate, it spends an average of seven to nine months to bring that physician on board. Most organizations must then add three to four months to compensate for a variety of delays or relocation problems.
RECRUITMENT
Many organizations are surprised to discover the escalating costs of recruitment. Although the costs of direct recruitment average $27,300 per physician, the full cost of recruiting a physician can easily top $100,000 once the organization factors in such variables as income guarantees or salaries, moving expenses, malpractice insurance, office space, new equipment, and other practice start-up expenses. For this reason, many private practices have attempted to split the costs of recruitment with the local hospital.1
Organizations also are taking an increasingly scientific, bottom-line approach to recruiting. For example, to evaluate the efficiency of a recruitment program, many organizations now track conversion ratios-that is, the number of medical professionals who move from being prospects, to applicants, to candidates, to finalists, and, finally, to partners or associates. In most cases, organizations must be prepared to interview five finalist candidates before they sign the selected candidate.
Many organizations also are surprised to learn that medical professionals are not always lured only by high salaries and income guarantees. Often, they wish to evaluate practice opportunities in the context of the total community, environment, and lifestyle. Professional interests, such as hospital and peer support, cross-coverage, and office space, account for 40% of the decision. Personal interests, such as recreation, lifestyle, schools, housing, culture, and shopping, account for the remaining 60% of the decision.
PAYING IN-HOUSE RECRUITERS
To remain competitive in the recruitment war, more healthcare organizations have developed in-house recruiting...